R.I. House GOP’s plan to vote from home is rebuffed

PROVIDENCE — Should Rhode Island lawmakers be allowed to vote remotely from outside the State House during times — such as now — when the governor has declared a state of emergency?

Five House Republicans have introduced a bill that would allow the leadership committee — known as the Joint Committee on Legislative Services — to create a mechanism for the “casting and recording votes [by lawmakers] by telephone or video conference.”

The legislation, filed in late February, drew this response from House spokesman Larry Berman:

“While well intended, this bill is not practical and would constitute a possible open-meetings violation because the public would not have the opportunity to follow along with the proceedings. There would be no ability for public debate, which is an essential part of the legislative process.

"If the governor declares a state of emergency, there would be no need for the General Assembly to meet,’’ he added.

He has since said the scenario he had in mind was a virtual shutdown of the state, as Rhode Island has seen in severe snowstorms.

After The Journal apprised him of these concerns, one of bill’s sponsors — Minority Leader Blake Filippi, R-Block Island — said he still thinks “if it was done right, it could be a good idea.”

He said he envisioned the kind of webinars or “teleconferences’’ that big companies use for online conferences. He said they would have to be viewable by the public and, in his mind, only used when an immediate vote is essential.

“Let’s say people are ordered evacuated, and we want to provide monetary support for them,” he said. Another example: if the governor were to take “some oppressive action, done through the executive branch, that the legislature would want to nullify [because] it offended ... rights and liberties of people during a crisis.”

Of Berman’s comments, he said: “I think we can work through the issues [he] raised.”

On Monday, Gov. Gina Raimondo declared a state of emergency in Rhode Island.

Even though Rhode Island at that point had only three confirmed cases of the coronavirus, Raimondo said she was taking the step in order to line up resources, such as the National Guard, in the event they are needed to enforce quarantines, for example.

“We will have more arms and legs around the problem,” the governor said.

But the House and Senate have not canceled or delayed any State House hearings this week, including Wednesday’s House Judiciary Committee hearing on 18 divisive gun bills, though legislative leaders are publicly drawing attention to opportunities for people to send their testimony electronically.

Asked what he made of the remote-voting proposal, John Marion, executive director of the citizens’ advocacy group Common Cause Rhode Island, said: “This is so new that we don't have an established position on the issue.”

His own initial reaction: “While emergency planning is always a good idea, in this case it may be hasty to propose that the General Assembly be allowed to hold session and vote remotely.

“It raises all sorts of questions about public access and input as well as concerns about the potential for coercion of legislators if they are allowed to cast votes outside of the public eye.”

“It appears that only a couple of states allow any sort of remote voting and under limited circumstances,’’ he added. ”I cannot find anything that suggests other states have emergency provisions for the state legislatures to vote remotely similar to what is being proposed here.”

For what it’s worth: Politico reported that U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Tuesday “was insistent that the business of the House will go on, even after a Democratic Caucus meeting grew tense Tuesday morning as members peppered the Capitol's attending physician with questions about how to plan for an outbreak and raised suggestions of voting remotely or taking extended time off to better protect themselves.

"'We are the captains of the ship. We are the last to leave,“' she told Democrats Tuesday morning as she shut down the suggestion of voting remotely, according to POLITICO. kgregg@ providence-journal.com